KEY POINTS:
Child abusers are the very people Maori need to be talking to in order to obliterate horrific child abuse rates, Titewhai Harawira believes.
Mrs Harawira made the comments on the last day of Nga Mana Ririki, a three-day summit in Auckland which aimed to develop a plan to find Maori solutions to eliminate the child abuse problem.
The community leader and Maori activist said after much persuasion she had brought along a woman responsible for the death of a child to participate in the workshops, but the woman had left unsure about her contribution to developing the plan.
Mrs Harawira said Police, Child Youth and Family, social workers and other government agencies couldn't explain why people killed or abused children, but perpetrators could. "They're [officials] not the ones that are sexually abusing their tamariki - we need to ask them 'you tell me why, how did this happen?'.
"Let those people talk for themselves. They're the experts. How are you going to find out what drives them to do that?
"Were they neglected, were they not taught to respect their sisters, were they molested as children?"
Maori would fail to get to the heart of the problem if child abusers were not included in solutions - and ostracism could provide a barrier, she said.
"Of course, we look down on them."
Organisers were unaware of the woman's attendance but said psychologists who did work with child abusers did attend.
Mrs Harawira's position was backed by convener and Anglican archdeacon Dr Hone Kaa who said Maori "can't afford to pussyfoot around".
"You can redeem yourself and your past."
Maori tikanga (practices) which had fallen by the wayside, such as tribally based justice, could provide part of the solution, he said.
"My father was the chairman of the local tribal committee, offenders were brought before them and dealt with. Maori have to pick up that history, we need to be our own police.
"We own the problem and we find the solution. If part of that means narking on your whanau - do it."
History provided examples of Maori indulging their children, which missionaries noted, but history couldn't be used as a crutch, he said.
Over the summit, More than 120 practitioners from Waikato to Northland working to stop child abuse took part in the summit, putting together a broad plan to combat the problem including advocacy, research, education and communications sections.
While no in-depth details emerged practical results include the establishment in the next few months of a new national Maori advocacy body. The organisation also plans television and radio campaigns and training and resources for the sector and Maori whanau.
* Stark statistics for the background to the event: Maori are twice as likely to be abused than children from other groups and New Zealand has the third highest rate of infanticide in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), with around a third of those deaths being Maori children.
There are statistically significant differences in the rate of homicide of Maori and non-Maori children and the differences have widened over the past 25 years.
The child most at risk of fatal violence in New Zealand between 1991 and 2000 was aged less than 1 year, male, and Maori.
He was most likely to die from battering, sustaining head and other fatal bodily injuries inflicted by one of his parents.
SUMMIT MESSAGES
* The goal of the new group is to eliminate Maori child abuse.
* Maori child abuse rates are disproportionately and unacceptably high.
* The Maori experience mirrors that of indigenous people all over the world.
* Maori need to stop blaming history for the problem. Maori have highly qualified experts in all the areas that contribute to child safety.
* Solutions must be inclusive of wahine, tane, tamariki and rangatahi.
